All present and eager for Qatar practice

Gordon Strachan, though, has the opposite problem. He cannot get his players to take a break, even if he wants them to. At the end of a long season, at a time when many are exhausted physically and mentally, players still want to come and play for him. How his tenure as Scotland manager is ultimately viewed will be determined by whether he can take the team to major tournaments again but, as a work-in-progress, cultivating an environment where players are desperate to pull on a Scotland shirt again certainly counts as a positive in his favour. Not all of his predecessors have that achievement on their records.

The friendly against Qatar on Friday at Easter Road is, of course, just the appetiser ahead of the main course the following week when Scotland travel to Dublin to take on the Republic of Ireland for what is shaping up to be a crucial Euro 2016 qualifier. Strachan would rather not be playing at this time of year at all - "I think the players' bodies need a rest" - but the fixture list has been set and he must find a way to best prepare his group for the challenges ahead.

It comes as a surprise to Strachan that the 26-man squad he named for the double-header almost a fortnight ago is still intact, with not a single withdrawal. It allows him the luxury of deciding who needs a run-out and who needs a rest, while also casting an eye over new faces such as goalkeeper Scott Bain and returning figures like Charlie Mulgrew, Charlie Adam and Leigh Griffiths.

Strachan was naturally respectful of the threat posed by Qatar, now managed by the Uruguayan Daniel Carreno, but it is a contest likely to be far less intense or draining than Ireland's warm-up friendly against England next Sunday. That should allow Strachan to tinker with his options and try out different perm- utations free from any real pressure or constraints.

"We know what systems we are going to play, we know how we like to play, we know how Ireland can play, but the most important thing is we get players up to speed to get fit," said Strachan. "The ones who need games, the ones who maybe don't need as much - we will have to deal with that.

"It's an easy time of year to make excuses if you don't want to be in a squad. But we've not got that. I've said to some players who have played a lot of games to give this a miss. And I've had a resounding 'no' from everybody. So I know fine well they don't want to miss out as they're scared someone will take their place.

"I expected to have a squad of about 18 which would have been great and I could have given everyone a game. But they're all turning up. I didn't expect that. I thought players would want to spend more time with their families or to rest but it's not been like that. You speak to the Norwich guys, they're absolutely buzzing. I speak to [Scott] Brown and [Darren] Fletcher, 'do you want a rest?' 'No thank you, we're coming.' We've got enthusiasm but you need to curb that sometimes.

"You might see players playing out of position so they get a game. It might be that we play all the wide midfield players for example. So that is the way we are looking at this game. We would obviously like to win it. It will be a nice wee test, it will be something different. The fans will be seeing players we have never seen before so it is an interesting night out."

If the options in attack and central defence are limited - injury means Grant Hanley will miss out - then it is a different story in midfield, which is now as congested as the Tokyo underground at rush hour. Adam's return to the fray for the first time in a year presents Strachan with a different option, while Fletcher, James McArthur, James Morrison, Brown and Mulgrew will all also harbour desires of patrolling the central beat as well. Strachan is excited about his wealth of options, especially the conundrum that is Adam and how best to utilise the Stoke City player.

"Charlie plays a bit different from the other lads," said Strachan, who will decide tomorrow whether to return Stuart McCall to his backroom staff following the conclusion of Rangers' season. "At his club he plays in a kind of 4-3-3 with a wandering role. If you put Stoke's set-up and ours on paper they look the same but ours is a bit different. They're more powerful than us.

"But Charlie couldn't be ignored as he's done fantastically well over the past couple of months. Is he a central midfield player like Fletcher and Brown? Maybe not. Is he the same as [Shaun] Maloney and [Steven] Naismith? Maybe not. But he's a player who can be used at different times and he definitely has a goal in him. Over the last six months he seems to have become more discip- lined in his game as well, which is handy for a manager. A lack of discipline can cost you and it has cost Scotland many times. So there's a nice wee bit of that about his game at the moment and he seems to be really enjoying himself."

The Qatar squad and their new manager will journey north to Scotland tomorrow following their friendly against Northern Ireland at the home of Crewe Alexandra today. They will likely be accompanied by baggage not of their making as the fall-out from last week's astonishing developments at Fifa, including fresh investigations into the decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup finals, continues to build.

There has been talk of some Scotland fans boycotting Friday's friendly in protest at Qatar's poor human rights record, and in particular the number of deaths of migrant workers constructing the new stadia needed to host the finals. Strachan, though, preferred to extend the hand of friendship.

"We will have to wait to see how this [Fifa scandal] all pans out. It would be easy for us to make comments now and that might be unwise. But I've heard things this week that I've been saying for a wee while. I do think, though, that it's a turning point for world football one way or another. And hopefully a turning point for the good.

"[The Qatar story] is not the fault of the players or the coaching staff. I'm actually looking forward to this game. There will be new faces and we can meet new friends."